Barth on Distributive Justice

In a study of Barth and Hegel on liberation and atonement (Christ Crucified in a Suffering World), Nathan Hieb notes that Barth defends the traditional ascription of iustitia distributiva to God, the justice “by which God distinguishes between right and wrong human action and on this basis approves or condemns” (68). 

Hieb elaborates, “Although Barth maintains that God’s righteousness is ‘essentially’ God’s mercy revealed through the love and grace of Jesus Christ, he also claims that the righteousness revealed in Christ entails the condemnation and punishment of sin without detracting from its character as mercy.” It’s not just in the Old testament that we see the “punishing operation of His righteousness,” but also “the New testament includes many references to God’s judgment against sin, a judgment that the Christian may only escape through the repentance of faith that receives Christ’s righteousness as her own” (69).

Nor is distributive righteousness peripheral to the church’s gospel message: “With unsettling, even shocking words, Barth writes that ‘we must see, feel and appreciate [God’s] love to us even in his anger, condemnation and punishment.’” God’s mercy revealed in the gospel isn’t mere “amnesty,” but accords with God’s law and God’s wrath against sin. Without that wrath, Barth implies, we cannot really preach the gospel at all (69-70).

If you’re wondering why this sort of thing needs to be brought up, you probably haven’t been following current debates on the justice of God and the atonement.